Alex: Ms. Chandler is a great teacher. She
really does a lot of work and she has certification for teaching dyslexic
children as well so [she] knows how to work with students with [a] variety
of learning habits. I learn a lot from her because she caters to my
needs.
To take it from an artistic standpoint, I learn a lot more effectively.

David: Her teaching style is really incredible
because the only things we’ve learned from the books are the amendments
and the constitution. She’ll bring in cases. We’ll read from
the newspaper and old documents and everything like that that’s
incorporated in the chapters in the book. I really like a teacher who
doesn’t stick to the book. She’s really liberal in nature
and I really like that. It’s amazing to me how she uses government
and arts in the same classroom. I never thought anybody could do that.
Like how does government relate to the arts. I found as an artist that
I have more importance in America. And I found as a U.S. citizen, I feel
more accepted and more important. I think the way she teaches is a form
of patriotism because she makes you proud of being an American.

Leo: It's exciting to be in Ms. Chandler's
class because you never really know what's going to happen. She may plan
a lecture on the constitution, but we might get off course and go into
something like entertainment law. We do have a genre of studies that she
wants us to know by the end of the semester, but we kind of trail off
sometimes into different sections of government that still have to do
with what we're talking about. Our questions kind of overwhelm her and
she loves that we're interested. So she's not going to say we need to
keep on track. She's going to answer them. Being in her class is different
than being in other history or government classes because she gets excited
as much as we do when we discover something new or when we open a new
door. She can relate to us in a lot of ways because she remembers how
boring it can get. So she tries to entertain us. She attempts to include
our arts in the curriculum.

Myra: Ms. Chandler is a very caring teacher.
She is always interested in our performances and in our other classes
and in this school. We have 10 classes per semester. When again in my
life am I ever going to have to take 10 classes? It just seems like a
lot, especially senior year, struggling to get everything done. Ms. Chandler
is one of the most understanding teachers when it comes to that. She does
a lot of in-class assignments so that we can spend our out-of-school time
working on other classes or social life if there is such a thing. And
she is willing to compromise. If, for instance, the show choir goes on
tour, those students get an extension on projects, and she takes those
different aspects into account. Also, she incorporates the art and she
takes it seriously and just doesn’t brush it off, as this is just
the academics and those are the arts. She ties them in together.

Selena: We always learn in her class by just
taking issues that we feel are important, bringing them to the table,
and discussing different things. If we don’t understanding something
and it’s off the subject, she’ll go out of her way to help
us understand. We recently did book reports. My book report had to relate
some form of government to our art. The book I chose was “A Taste
of Power” by Elaine Brown. She was chairman of the Black Panther
Party. I really got interested in learning the Black Panther’s goals
for achieving their 10-point platform. Ms. Chandler suggested that I do
something on the Black Panther Party for my end-of-the-year project. She’s
always making suggestions and giving us things to read. She doesn’t
really teach out of the book either. She might use the book as a reference
point or something. We have this book that we use sometimes. It’s
not like everyday we’re just going into a book, sitting down and
writing stuff out of the book and that’s how we learn. We actually
learn by her asking us questions, seeing if we know this. If we don’t,
we’ll open a newspaper and find out, see what’s going on in
the news today. Or we’ll talk about cases and the Supreme Court
or something like that. I like the way she teaches because I really don’t
learn well from the book. I learn well from actually getting hands-on
experience or seeing things that are really happening.